ebick wrote:These soundboards were released by the band and/orrecorded by fans from the board which was pretty muchopen policy many times including spring 1993.

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Again, quality is not the issue, source is. SBDs are born from the equipment owned by the band and therefore are their property and therefore are under restrictions regarding sale and/or distribution. Audience recordings are not.

what i don't get is that (to my knowledge) many a dead side band still allow SBD tapers to plug in, why let them do it? Do they not think that people will trade these SBD recordings? I went to the PNF show this past FEB for the Mardi Gras party, a week later i scored an SBD recording on Furthur.... why is it okay for PNF and not the Dead. I have a feeling that Phil is still cool with the trading and distribution of his live shows, but why are the rest of theguys so bent on it? that's part of what drew me into the dead that I had access to all this live music and it's all so great, and free.

and i too don't buy Bob's story about getting sued, their whole first album was made up of covers that they took credit for and they never got sued for it. Has anyone in the music business ever been sued for performing cover material?? i am not claiming anyone hasn't,and i am no expert on the laws of business in the music industry, but i thought that mainly pertained to studio recordings that were marketed and sold.